Tree's Company

As druids and rangers are quick to point out, nature has a kind of special magic all its own. Whether it’s the cycle of life, the beauty of all the different kinds of plants and animals, or just the way that it all seems to fit together, there’s really something special about the natural world. Today, we’re going to take a look at some spells that tie into one of the more common symbols of that mysterious force called nature: the tree.

You cause the target to grow with incredible speed, effectively maturing by years in a matter of moments. The touched tree effectively ages by a number of years equal to five times your caster level (to a maximum of 25 years at 5th level), causing any trees in the area to grow tremendously. This causes saplings and seeds to become small trees, small trees to become large trees, and large trees to become even larger. See the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook for more information on the effects of terrain features such as small and large trees.

This spell has no effect on animated trees, such as those affected by awakening, or on tree-like creatures, such as treants.

You scatter the pinecones about you with a flourish, and then, at your command, they begin to sprout and grow rapidly before your eyes, quickly transforming into towering trees that are empowered by magic to move, and which obey your commands, fighting on your behalf.

No matter how many pine cones you throw as part of casting the spell, exactly 2d4+2 of them are affected and transform in this way. They land in unoccupied squares of your choice within the spell’s range. At the end of the turn in which you cast the spell, they are little more than saplings, and are unable to move or act. In this state, they act as small trees, except that they have a natural armor bonus to AC equal to twice your primary spellcasting ability score modifier, and a number of hit points equal to your caster level x 5.

At the end of your turn on the round after you cast the spell, the saplings have grown to considerable size, and now function as large trees, except as indicated above. They are still unable to move or act.

At the end of your round on the following round, the trees animate. In this form, they have statistics as treants, except that their maximum hit points are either equal to your caster level x 5 or as normal for a treant, whichever is higher, and their natural armor bonus to AC is equal to twice your primary spellcasting ability score modifier or as normal for a treant, whichever is higher. The trees do not gain the animate trees special ability of the treant. Once animated, the trees fight as you command, as though summoned by a summon nature’s ally I spell.

The trees remain animated for a number of rounds equal to your caster level, after which they become rooted in place and become standard large trees. Similarly, an animated tree that is reduced to 0 or fewer hit points becomes a standard large tree. See the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook for more information on the effects of terrain features such as small and large trees.

In the same way that powerful druids can bring sentience to ordinary plants, you can take away animation from plant creatures, rendering them inert. The target must succeed on a Will save or become catatonic, unable to perceive the world around it or move or act in any way. The target is effectively paralyzed, though it is also unable to take mental actions. The target may make a new saving throw to end the effect after 1 round. If it fails this second saving throw as well, it can make additional saving throws after 1 minute, 1 hour, 1 day, and finally 1 week. If it succeeds on any of these saving throws, it regains its ability to think and move, and the spell’s effect ends. If it fails all of these saving throws, the effect is permanent, and cannot be dispelled (although creatures affected in this way can be restored to their normal state by an awaken spell).

This spell has no effect on plants that are not also creatures (such as mundane trees and flowers, etc.).